Bad to the Bone
by SPEEEEEEEAK
Summary: A series of one-shots about Roger and his life, triggered by old photographs. Rated for language and cause it's RENT.
1. An Album

**A/N: This will be a series of one-shots about Roger's life. Most of them will be totally random. And they're probably not going to go in chronological order, so I'll let you know the timeline before each chapter.**

Roger sat in his room, picking mindlessly at the guitar strings. He softly sang the lyrics that had been buzzing around his head all day before biting his thin upper lip and trying to find the correct notes on his Fender.

He took a drag from the cigarette that hung out of the corner of his mouth and smacked the neck of the guitar, as though that would help him find the song he was searching for.

Giving up for the time being, Roger slouched into the main room of the loft. Mark was out for the day filming something or other so he had the place to himself.

He rummaged through the refrigerator, and finding nothing to eat, grabbed a beer. He slumped down into the couch, wishing there were something to do around here.

If only Mimi…

But no.

He had promised himself that he wasn't going to dwell on the past.

He could go visit her and Angel's graves, but that would just depress him even more. Collins was teaching, trying to forget as well. Maureen and Joanne were somewhere visiting someone.

Who, Roger wasn't quite sure. He had basically stopped paying attention to people recently.

Except for when they were getting him drunk…then he paid just as much attention to them as it was necessary to.

Roger wondered aimlessly into Mark's room. There were battered cardboard boxes stacked floor to ceiling along one wall.

What could the nerdy guy possibly be storing in all of those? Roger wondered. Porn, he figured and reached forward eagerly to open the closest one.

A dark maroon leather bound album was on top and deep blue and a forest green coloured albums could be seen below it.

Roger lifted the top one out and flipped open the cover apprehensively. A picture that he knew well was staring up at him.

It was him and Mark, as five-year-olds, sitting together and laughing in a sandbox. This picture had been framed and hung in his mother's house to this day.

_What the hell was Mark doing with all of these old photo albums?_ Roger thought as he continued to flip through the book, seeing that almost all of the pictures contained him.

They all brought up memories, some he remembered fondly, some made him want to cry, and some of them made him want to crawl under a rock.

Roger looked back at the box. There must have been twenty photo albums in there! It was going to take forever to go through all of them!

Well, at the very least, he had found something to do with himself for the afternoon.

**A/N: Tada! Lame beginning, I know. Hopefully it'll get better. Reviews make me happy.**


	2. A Plane Picture

**A/N: Ok so I know I said that this would be up yesterday, but I lied. Mainly cause I lost my notebook with this in it. But oh well. Here it is! This takes place post-RENT, but it's AU because Angel's still alive. Cause I said so.**

"Would you like something to drink Hun?" the stewardess asked.

Collins looked at Angel who shook her head and said with a smile, "No, thank you." Collins said no as well, and went back to the term paper he was grading.

The stewardess smiled and turned across the aisle to Mimi and Roger.

"Something to drink?"

Mimi ordered a diet coke and vodka, which Roger remarked was a great drink for ten thirty on a Saturday morning. But hey, they'd all gotten up at the crack of dawn to catch this flight, she deserved it.

Going on a much anticipated vacation could really take a lot out of a girl.

The stewardesses fake hot pink nails clacked on the metal cart annoyingly as she got the drink and handed it to the dancer.

The flight attendant moved on, and Maureen turned around from the seat in front of Roger. "Hey!" she exclaimed, way too peppy for this early in the morning.

But then again, Maureen was always hyper.

She started chattering away to Mimi, and Joanne gave Roger a sympathetic smile from between the seats. He returned the smile, and jumped as the _Fasten Seatbelts Sign_ lit up a bright orange.

He clicked the two pieces together and laughed as Joanne tried to get Maureen to sit down, as the diva was now bouncing in her seat.

"Prepare for landing," the stewardess advised them, walking back to the front of the plane to take her seat. Mimi shut her eyes tightly and gripped the armrest with all her might.

"It's ok baby," Roger said, wrapping her in his arms and kissing the top of her head. Mimi smiled and relaxed, her head resting on Roger's chest.

Roger grinned and smoothed her hair just as Maureen popped up from her seat again crying, "SMILE!" and clicking the button on her Polaroid camera. Mimi and Roger both jumped, blinded by the flash.

"Aww! You guys are so cute!" she exclaimed the second the picture was developed. Maureen handed Mimi the picture before Joanne yanked her back down into her seat as the plane began to descend.

A few moments later, and the wheels hit the tarmac of the runway. The loudspeaker crackled.

"Thank you for flying with us today," the stewardess's voice came to them, "and welcome to Santa Fe."

**A/N: Short I know, I promise that the next one will be longer. R&R!**


	3. The First Band

**A/N: Next chapter! W00tness and such. As I'm saying in all my other updates [and my profile if, you know, you actually read that thing] I'm moving in a week. Yay I guess?? Anyway, I will try and update everything before I leave, but after that, I'm not sure when more updates will be…hopefully I won't have to wait for too long. And I'll stop talking now and let you read!**

**Oh, and this chapter is when Roger is a kid, in about first or second grade. And it's actually based off of something my friends Katie, Justin, and I did when we were in kindergarten. **

**Gah the disclaimer! I don't own RENT [JL does…did?], the song Dancing Queen [ABBA does], Lego's [The Lego Co. duh], Boscov's [Boscov's…blonde day, huh?], Maureen's dress, or a ukulele [although I wish I did]. **

**Now I'm really done.**

Roger sat in his room, lovingly looking at his birthday presents. The previous day had been his birthday, and various relatives had shown up (most of whom he didn't know) and given him gifts (which he didn't mind). Now Roger bounced slightly on his bed staring at his new toys and waiting for his two best friends to come over.

As he pushed aside dump trucks and a bin of Lego's, trying to find something that the three of them could do together, as they were prone to arguing, he came upon a box that he hadn't opened. He stared at the long rectangular box wrapped in silver and blue paper and tried to find a card.

Finally, he found a tag under a big red bow that read _To Roger: My Favourite Nephew! Love, Aunt Cecelia._ Aunt Cecelia! Roger gasped and tore into the paper. Aunt Cecelia, his father's youngest sister and Roger's favourite relative, couldn't make it to his party as she was on an exchange trip to Europe through her college's journalism class. How had Roger missed this extra present?! He lifted the green lid of the non-descript box and pulled out the tissue paper.

There, nestled in the bottom of the box, was a miniature guitar, a ukulele as the gold letters on the bottom of it said. Roger squealed in excitement. He had dreamed of getting his own guitar since he had seen a child-sized one in Boscov's the year before, and now he finally had it!

Roger pulled the guitar out of its box and plucked the strings, delighted when it made a twanging sound. He got up on his bed a began jumping up and down, playing his new guitar and singing a song that he made up as he went.

"Oh, my birthday was yesterday! I had a paaaaartyyyyyy! I got a geetaar!" he pronounced it with a southern drawl. "My guitar's name is…my guitar's name is JILLIAN! She is amaaaaaaaazing! I love love love love my new guitar!!!!" By this time, Roger was shouting as he came closer and closer to hitting the ceiling. "MY GUITAR IS-"

"A ukulele!" Maureen cried, bursting into Roger's room, closely followed by Roger's other friend from the neighbourhood, Mark.

"So?" Roger demanded, defensive of his newest prized possession.

"So it's not a boy's guitar!" Maureen explained, exasperated. "It's something that Hawaiian people play!" Mark giggled, but shot Roger a sympathetic look, having been on the other side of Maureen's teasing more times than not.

Roger sat down on his wooden desk chair with a huff. "Well I was _going_ to ask you to be in my band. But I guess you won't want to 'cause my guitar's too 'girly…'"

"NO!" Maureen shouted. "It's not! I wanna be in a band!"

"Fine then," Roger said with a resigned sigh. "Can I be in it too?" Mark asked quietly.

"Of course!" Roger said, leaping up again to assemble his band. "I'll be the lead guitar player, Maureen can sing, and you can be the piano player!"

"Okay!" Mark said excitedly, going to Roger's closet to dig out his toy keyboard. Maureen stood still in the center of the room, her brow furrowed.

"We need someone to play drums," she pointed out once Roger and Mark looked at her, wondering why she was being so quiet and still. "No we don't," Roger said. "Yes we do!" Maureen argued back, convinced that she was wise beyond her years, "all good bands have one."

"Well for the song that we're going to play, we don't need a drummer. We just need someone to play a tambourine, which you can do while you sing!"

"Alright then," Maureen agreed, and the three set out to plan their first concert.

* * *

Roger, Maureen, and Mark stood in Roger's kitchen, looking through the glass on the sliding back door and out to Roger's back yard.

Their parents and Mark's older sister Cindy had gathered and were waiting impatiently for the little starts to get composed and come out and sing, as they all had better things to do, although Cindy was the only one who'd tell the seven-year-olds that.

Finally, Maureen stepped out onto the wooden deck with a toy microphone. She had changed from her shorts and tee-shirt of earlier into a brightly coloured patterned dress, white gloves, and too-big silver shoes. Cindy grimaced visibly, as she recognized one of her old outfits. Maureen readjusted her headband and smiled at the miniscule crowd.

"Thank you for all coming out this afternoon," she paused to glare at Cindy as she grumbled under her breath, "and please enjoy our concert. I'm singing, Mark will be playing the piano, and Roger is our lead guitarist."

As Maureen mentioned the two boys, they stepped out from the house, Mark wearing a light blue silk suit, and Roger wearing a deep purple one. Both of the boys had to roll up the sleeves of their outfits, as they were obviously made for adults. Maureen and Roger's fathers chuckled as they recognized their old tuxes.

Maureen nodded at Mark who played a note on his portable keyboard and then leaned down to hit the play button on the tape deck. The beginning notes of music began to play, and Maureen stepped forward.

"Friday night and the lights are low," she began and all the parents smiled, as they remembered the song from not that long ago.

Their band played through the entire song, Roger strumming notes on his guitar, Mark occasionally hitting a piano key, and Maureen belting out the lyrics and dancing. At the end of the song, they all bowed and after "exiting" the stage, ran to their parents, who congratulated them and took them out for ice cream.

For Mark, this had not been a pleasant experience, as he didn't like being in front of people doing anything, even if it was just his parents, and he hated the stage fright that he had gotten.

Maureen basked in the attention, but then again she could get attention from anything if she tried hard enough.

But to Roger, this felt different from anything else. Like he wanted to feel that feeling he got from performing every night. He wanted to play music, be in a band, and write songs. He wanted to rock the world.

**A/N: Yes, a VERY long chapter update for you! Cause I love you so much and stuff. I would love you even more if you reviewed…yes, it's true! **

**In case you didn't guess, Maureen was singing Dancing Queen by ABBA. Um, if you wanna see what she was wearing [cause I don't think I described it too well] you can go find the link on my profile. ****Sorry****, but I can't find pictures for Roger and Mark's suits, but trust me, they're _very_ 70's – my grandfather owned the blue one…**

**So yes – REVIEW BITCHES!**


	4. The First Song

**A/N: Next chapter! This takes place when Roger's in around middle school I'd guess. I pictured him in sixth or seventh grade. So, he's about eleven or twelve. Sorry this took so long!**

**Disclaimer: -said in monotone- I do not own RENT.**

Roger sat in history class, trying in vain to stay awake as the teacher droned on. It was only ten minutes into class and he had already exhausted all of his options for things to do other than pay attention. Mark was sick, or he would have talked to him.

The only other person in his class that he knew was Benny, and he was much too concerned with taking notes and getting good grades to want to talk or make fun of the teacher. Roger had also used up two entire sheets of paper on spitballs. In short, he was very, very, bored.

His mind wandered and he started eavesdropping on a group of girls who sat behind him who were whispering loudly. They were talking about some new band that they didn't like. Apparently, they only liked singers who wrote their own music.

Roger's brow furrowed.

He had wanted to start his own band since he was little. He dreamed of becoming a famous rocker. But he couldn't do that if even his own classmates didn't like him. The wheels in his brain started turning. He needed to write a song. He racked his brain.

What were songs written about?

Pain.

Love.

Experiences.

He figured love would be the easiest. Love could relate to anything. He turned the page in his notebook from the doodles he had been working on instead of taking notes to a blank page. After a few more doodles and some random words that he jotted down he began writing the song.

_If I want to be found, I'll open the door for you, I'll do anything you want, to help you see behind these curtains I've pulled over me. Over me._

_But for now, I'm done, hiding, locked away inside a box to which there is no key. I'm over. Over you._

_I have my reasons, as you have yours. Why we do the things we do. Our inner thoughts, our minds work in ways I will never understand. But I'm over it. Over you._

_Done. Gone. Outta your life. 'Til the day I die, 'til the day I die, 'til the day, 'til the day, 'til the day I die._

_I will always remember you. The memories. Laughing and tears. You will always be a part of me. I love you and I will always remember you until the day I die. But for now I am…_

_Over you._

Roger nodded, satisfied with his song. He turned around and looked at the girls behind him.

Should he?

He made the decision quickly in his head and scooted his chair over to the girl directly behind him. "Hey," he whispered.

The girl looked up from the note she was reading and smiled at him. "Mimi, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "Roger?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if you would read this for me? It's a song I wrote." He handed her and her friends the piece of torn out notebook paper. The three girls read it and looked up at him, smiling.

"This is really great," Mimi complimented him. Her friends nodded.

"It's deep. You in a band?" the red haired girl on her right asked.

Roger shook his head. "Not yet. I want to start one though." He looked at her - she was cute. "Would you be interesting in being in it, if I did?" the girl nodded.

"I would like that. I'm April," she said, smiling and handing him his song lyrics back. Roger smiled.

The teacher cleared her throat and glared at them and Roger turned back around to his desk. All in all, it'd been a pretty good class period. He'd written his first song, was on his way to starting a real band...

And he'd met April.

**A/N: Sorry this is so short. I have the next one written, and it's longer; it should be up tomorrow or today after I edit it!! And yes, this is very AU seeing as both Mimi and April are in his class. I was actually thinking of the other girl as Alison, but I never brought her in. Oh, and sorry the song that he wrote kinda sucks - I just wrote it in like five minutes. But yeah - next chapter up soon!**


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